INFRASTRUCTURE ISSUE?A Ministry of Health and Welfare task force said the issue should be addressed by the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 12, 2017
By: Wu Liang-i and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

One physician is calling on the government to combat low birth rates, saying the situation is worsening.

Taiwan Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology secretary-general Huang Min-chao (黃閔照) said this year is on track to be the second-worst for births since the economic crisis of nearly 10 years ago, citing a monthly average of 15,000 in the first six months.

Roughly 300,000 babies per year were born in Taiwan in the 1980s and 1990s, but the number fell to 260,354 in 2001 and to 227,070 in 2003 and it has never recovered, leaving the nation with one of the world’s lowest birth rates at fewer than 10 per 1,000 people.

Since 2012 there have usually been more than 200,000 births per year, or roughly 17,000 per month, but the total might be well below 200,000 this year, Huang said.
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